Hemnalini took his arm and he supported her to her own room.
"Please leave me to myself for a little, dad, and I'll go to sleep," she said as she lay down.
"Shall I send up your old nurse to fan you?" asked her father.
"No, thank you, I should prefer to be alone."
Annada Babu retired into the room adjoining hers. His thoughts went back to Hem's mother, who had died when the girl was three years old, and he recalled her devotion, her patience, and her unfailing cheerful- ness. His heart was torn with anxiety for the daugh- ter for whom he had endeavoured all these years to take a mother's place and who had grown up to be the image of the lost one. His mind pierced the physi- cal barrier of the partition between them and he found himself mentally addressing the prostrate girl. "Dear, I pray that Heaven may remove all obstacles from your path and that you may be happy all the rest of your life. I pray that before I join your mother I may see you blissful and contented, safely installed by the hearth of a man whom you love!" and he wiped his moist eyes with the fringe of his coat.
Jogendra had always rated women's intelligence low and the day's events only confirmed him in his estimate. How could one cope with a sex that disregarded the dearest evidence? A woman is quite ready to deny that two and two make four if a question of individual happiness is concerned. If reason tells her that black is black and love tells her that black is white, poor reason is soundly rated. How in spite of woman the world manages to conduct its affairs Jogendra could not imagine!
He hailed Akshay.
Akshay sidled into the room. "You've heard every- thing. What is to be done now?" asked Jogendra. "Why do you drag me into it, old man? It's no
